Politicians

ARTICLES ABOUT POLITICIANS BY DATE - PAGE 2

I commend Catherine Shollenberger for writing such a fine, detailed and informative letter to the editor about school property taxes. I am hoping this letter will unite the overburdened homeowners who pay school taxes. After driving by Emmaus High School and seeing the football, baseball and field hockey/soccer fields, not to mention tennis courts, I had to write. We have been constantly burdened with a school tax annual raise to a ridiculous level. She is spot on by saying older Pennsylvanians will be forced out of their homes.

How many of you remember the Pope for a Day controversy? Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey once stirred strong negative feelings within the Democratic Party by advocating strongly for his pro-life views, even fighting to express them at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. Controversial convention buttons were created depicting devout Catholic Casey in pope garb - they read "Pope for a Day" - to mock his advocacy. It was a stupid, ugly episode. The kindest way to look back on this is to suggest that many people are uncomfortable with the juxtaposition of faith and politics, a tension that resonates in recent comments by Lehigh County Commissioner Vic Mazziotti.

There are many people in media and politics who berate unions. Why? However, the union members from the Easton Fire Department did something wonderful by giving little kids coats to keep them warm during the winter. It was not the unions who crashed the economy. That was done by the politicians, the media and the crooks of Wall Street. It was the union firefighters of Easton who sought to serve the public instead of themselves, which has become the mind-set of politicians and the thieves of Wall Street since Ronald Reagan was president.

I cannot support Rep. Charlie Dent in future elections as the result of his recent health care and budget-related votes. The congressman's dilemma is that he has no way to know whether he has driven me to the Democrats with his initial votes to kill Obamacare or to the tea party by his most recent votes to retain Obamacare essentially unchanged. Furthermore, there is nothing he can say to win me back since I can't trust him to stand behind his words. His votes appear to be dictated by the political winds, not principled positions.

Enough is enough! If an individual other than a fat-cat politician did not meet deadlines or accomplish the work he or she was hired to do, he or she most likely would be fired on the spot. It is time for people to show their frustration and disapproval of the politicians in Washington, D.C., by voting every member of both houses out of Congress the next time they are up for election. We need to begin anew with a Congress and executive that will listen to the will of their constituents, not vote because of their specific political party affiliation or because they have been influenced by the big lobbying groups.

Since 1829, exactly one person from the Lehigh Valley has occupied the governor's office in Harrisburg. Ed Pawlowski hopes to be the second. The Allentown mayor is venturing into territory where few Lehigh Valley politicians have successfully gone, and political observers say the first-time candidate for statewide office has a long road ahead. The Lehigh Valley, the third most populous region of Pennsylvania and one of the fastest growing, has found it notoriously difficult to field successful statewide candidates — be it governor, senator or the row offices frequently used to propel those with greater aspirations.

The great majority of our national politicians have played ostrich when it comes to combating global warming. They've buried their heads in the sand and made believe that droughts, wildfires and floods of biblical proportions aren't occurring. It's long past time to ignore the enormous costs — both financial and in human suffering — associated with rising oceans and a hotter and more unstable climate. Our politicians owe us more than a bird imitation; they owe us action. Dan Nickischer Lehigh Township

The juxtaposition of two seemingly unrelated events this week ought to have taxpayers recoiling in horror. Both events involved schemes by politicians to grab "upfront cash" to make themselves look good while in office, so that when most of the bills come due, they'll have moved on to greener pastures. As reported Tuesday in The Morning Call, hearings were held in Harrisburg on proposed legislation to outlaw most bond issue "swap" deals hatched by local school boards and municipalities.

Sunday at the Great Allentown Fair, local politicians and the media went toe-to-toe. Stomping grapes, that is. Two teams of four contestants competed against each other for four minutes, stomping grapes to see which produced the most juice. The event was intended to help promote the local wine industry and its contribution to Lehigh County agriculture. On the politicians team: Allentown Mayor Edward Pawlowski, Lehigh County Commissioner Percy Daugherty, Lehigh County Executive Matt Croslis and state Rep. Gary Day, R-Lehigh/Berks.

An excerpt from the Declaration of Independence reads as follows: "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. " Too bad many of our politicians don't believe these words to be true of them. Examples include a majority of the governed do not want Obamacare but do want background checks for gun purchases. We the American people share the blame because we keep re-electing these same politicians while at the same time blaming them for the mess we're in. My fellow Americans, we need to wake up and demand that our elected officials listen to us instead of following the party line.